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Ethics and Transparency

Definition

Ethics (via Latin ethica from the Ancient Greek "moral philosophy", from the adjective of "custom, habit"), a major branch of philosophy, encompasses right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong. A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is satisfying, which is held by many philosophers to be more important than moral conduct. The major problem is the discovery of the summum bonum, the greatest good. The right act can be identified as the one causing the greatest good and the immoral act as the one impeding it.

Ethics in Consumption and Fair Trade

One must wonder, regarding consumption, about the origins and the manufacture of the products. The International Division of Labour and the costs’ rationalization, when taking to extremes as part of globalization, have led to reprehensible situations as far as ethics is concerned (children work, trade of health noxious products, appalling working conditions…). We cannot deny that the act of buying comes up to a kind of support, more or less wanted and conscious, to a business firm or to an industrial sector, as well as to their production methods.

Wondering about the origins and the manufacture of one’s purchases can be in line with a humanist reasoning process, which meets nowadays to a response with the development of fair trade.

Ethics and Fair Fashion’s commitments

-Guarantee the employee a framework of good social, hygiene and equipment conditions.
-Make sure the employees feel good and safe in their workplace.
-Assist the employees when necessary.
-Give the employees a trainee and develop their skills.
-Assist the employees to the start-up of their own business if wanted.
-Optimum quality products.
-Develop high quality and original collections, fair for all.
-Be as closest as possible and willing to listen to customers.
-Keep customers updated of the events related to Fair Fashion’s life.
-Even if they are welcome - because their mom did not find any one to look after them - there is no child working at Fair Fashion.
-Denounce and be opposed to any inappropriate mercenary use of some actors.
-Every one is welcome to meet us. Fair Fashion’s factory is situated in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City and remains open to the public.
-Express our active commercial and technical support to other projects of fair trade.
-Use natural and organic products as much as possible.
-Prefer human work to any kind of automation.
-Get the employees financially and technically concerned to the results of Fair Fashion.
-Transfer all profits to the “Alliance Anti-Trafic” social project of struggle against prostitution & sexual slavery of women & children. www.allianceantitrafic.org

For any question or remark, please do not hesitate to contact us.

“Human Beings in contact with Human Beings”

 

Prices’ Transparency

When looking at the products coming from fair trade, it is alarming to notice that many of these products are sold 8 or 9 times more expensive their real cost price in the name of ethics. Let’s take the example of a made-of-silk blouse. Whereas we make it and sell it for 15 Euros (22 USD), the same blouse would be sold at the price of 99 Euros (148 USD) by the biggest actors of fair trade. That represents 66 Euros (99 USD) of profit margin for the seller but only 5 Euros (7 USD) for the worker. Whose is this fair?

Considering many actors of fair trade, the social project going with the product is very often empty: “We transfer 1% of our turnover to such and such a movement”, “We closely work with a cooperative in such and such a country”, “Cambodian women work for us since our products come from Cambodia”… It remains that we do not know whether they are better paid or not, or better socially supervised or not… We do not know anything! Tomorrow it will be fairly enough to say “Chinese workers work for us, so it is fair”.

Fair Fashion is clearly against those kinds of practices and provides you the price details of our products. For any order, you will precisely know the sharing out of its price as well as the real contribution of your purchase without making rich people who pretend to educate you.
Fair Fashion has got in touch with most of the fair trade’s actors. The assessment is depressing. Even if many of them are really implicated in the fair trade’s ethics.

Price Details for the  piece of clothing :

• VAT : 19.6% in France
• Stockist : the stockist has to pay high expenses such as rental of the commercial premises, employees, shop’s layout, welfare costs… It is therefore normal that the stockist’s profit margin should enable him to cope with these expenditures. The stockists working for Fair Fashion are people who feel involved in the ethics of fair trade. They are willing to reduce their profit margins. That is how they take part in our social programme. The rates showed on this website are the guarantee of this initiative.
• Transportation to France: 2%
• Importer: 3%. The importer is in charge of each import’s formalities so as to be in order with European legislation.
• Import Tax: 3% of the selling price in France. In Vietnam, we have to calculate it on the basis of 9.6% of the price of the piece of clothing and of the transportation. In many other countries classified as “System des preferences generalisees” by the European Union, this Import tax could be null. These countries are usually preferred by the actors of fair trade.
• Airplane Transportation: 6%. That is a high cost but we have no choice because of the numerous export countries as well as because of our will to deliver quickly. The taxes related to Airplane Transportation could be lower if we delivered in larger quantities by boat. That is what traditional actors of fair trade usually do.
• Vietnam Taxes: 3%
• Marketing: 3%. For many of them, this rate can reach 50%. And you obviously pay for it.
• Structure: 5% (rental of commercial premises, equipment, Water, Electricity…)
• Raw Materials: 8% (fabric, thread…)
• Labour: 9%. This rate meets people’s salary who realized your piece of clothing.